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Baldelli and Montoyo assume managerial positions with Twins and Jays; Gaston close to signing

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Rocco Baldelli was introduced to the media Thursday afternoon at Target Field. (Photo Credit: Brian Peterson/Star Tribune)

The Tampa Bay Rays clubhouse will have a different look going into Spring Training next season. On Thursday, the Minnesota Twins announced that Rocco Baldelli will replace former manager Paul Molitor, while bench coach Charlie Montoyo will take over as the Blue Jays new skipper. The Rays are also reportedly close to signing a $2.61-million deal with 17-year-old Cuban right-hander Sandy Gaston.

Rocco Baldelli announced as the Twins new manager

Baldelli had previously been in consideration for several managerial vacancies, with the Blue Jays and Rangers having been top candidates. Former Rays hitting coach Derek Shelton was also said to be a finalist, while Cubs bench coach Brandon Hyde was Minnesota’s other top choice. It is plausible that Shelton, who also served on the Twins’ coaching staff last season, could remain on hand as the bench coach, given his familiarity with Baldelli.

 

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Baldelli, 37, is best known for his promising, but injury-shortened, big league career, slashing a combined .285 BA/.326 OBP/.425 SLG/.751 OPS with 27 home runs and 44 steals through across 292 big league games. Baldelli, however, suffered an ACL tear in his right elbow during the 2004-05 offseason which required Tommy John surgery before he could return to the field.

Baldelli rejoined the Rays in 2006 and batted .302 BA/.339 OBP/.533 SLG/.872 OBP in 92 games. Sadly his career took a mysterious downturn the following season, as he was diagnosed with a rare condition called channelopathy, rendering his body metabolically incapable of recovering from the rigors of playing baseball at a professional level. After amassing a total of 429 career plate appearances in 2008, Baldelli played his final game at just 29 years of age.

The former Ray spent three seasons as first base coach from 2015-17 and was also tasked with outfield instruction. The organization created the new role, Major League field coordinator, for Baldelli last season — a role in which he assisted manager Kevin Cash and bench coach Charlie Montoyo with a heavy focus on player development at the big league level.

As with Cash, who was just four years removed from serving as a player before being hired as manager, Baldelli will be touted as someone who is more capable of connecting with younger players.

Charlie Montoyo announced as the Blue Jays new manager

The Blue Jays announced the hiring of Charlie Montoyo, who received a three-year contract with a club option for a fourth season in 2022.

 

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Montoyo, 53, spent 18 seasons managing within the Rays’ organization before he joined the big league coaching staff in December 2014. He initially served as Tampa Bay’s third base coach before being named bench coach last offseason, replacing Tom Foley. Montoyo’s experience and positive reputation helped to make him a popular managerial candidate this offseason — he also interviewed with Cincinnati and was linked to other ball-clubs too.

Montoyo was a sixth-round draft pick with the Brewers in 1987 and had a 10-year playing career in the minors, receiving a brief big league promotion in with the 1993 Expos — appearing in four games and tallying just five plate appearances. When his playing career ended in 1996, he almost immediately joined the Rays organization.

Montoyo is only three years younger than the man he’ll replace, John Gibbons, but he comes from a different background, having spent more than two decades with an organization that has often spearheaded experimental tactics and strategies. He’ll give the Blue Jays a bilingual skipper with considerable experience running a clubhouse (albeit at the minor league level) and a deep understanding of the increasing role that data plays not only in informing roster construction but also in the day-to-day performances and training regimens of a big league roster, writes Steve Adams (MLB Trade Rumors).

Rays close to signing Sandy Gaston

The Rays are reportedly close to signing a deal with Cuban right-hander Sandy Gaston that will pay him a $2.61-million bonus. The deal is pending a physical.

Gaston is slated to absorb the bulk of the Rays’ remaining international spending pool, which previously stood at $3.5-million.

The right-hander was ranked the 24th overall international prospect by Baseball America, and is known for his big velocity, which he showed off in a recent showcase for MLB clubs at Marlins Park in Miami. He, however, lacks polish — his off speed pitches and fastball command remain in question. In any case, at just 17 years of age, Gaston clearly has plenty of time to iron things out.

In July, the Rays landed 13th overall prospect, shortstop Alejando Pie, for $1.4-million.

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Tampa Bay Rays agree to a long-term contract with Kevin Cash

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The extension to Kevin Cash’s contract will make him the longest-tenured manager in franchise history.

The Tampa Bay Rays have agreed to a long-term contract extension with manager Kevin Cash. The lengthy commitment runs through the 2024 season, however, it also includes an option for another year. As of now, the financial details are unknown. This agreement replaces the prior deal which included one more season and a two-year option.

In spite of the odds placed against them, Cash guided the Rays to a 90-72 record this season, using a variety of unorthodox methods of utilizing the roster. And though 90 wins weren’t enough to earn the team a spot in the 2018 postseason, the strong showing, after a 1-8 (and 4-13) start to the season, generated optimism and enthusiasm for the team in the near future. Moreover, it demonstrated to the front office that Cash is the right person to translate their theories into action.

We put a lot on his plate, Rays GM Erik Neander said. When it comes to managing effectively, leading a club effectively, frankly, I don’t know how much more one could have demonstrated over the course of a season than what he did.

… Under Kevin’s leadership, our teams have always played hard. They’ve played with energy, and by and large, they’ve played the game the right way. In our opinion, taking a look at this thing, the way that our teams have played has a lot to do with the example Kevin sets and the consistency which he approaches day to day.

The energy, the competitiveness. There’s a certain authenticity that we’ve spoken to over time here, that makes him real and allows him to motivate and to relate to a wide assortment of people. … Our players want to play for him, and he’s just created a wonderful culture for our group.

Cash was initially hired in a 2014-15 offseason that saw the massive organizational overhaul — Andrew Friedman and manager Joe Maddon both departed for Los Angeles and Chicago, respectively. The former backstop oversaw a pair of middling 80-82 seasons sandwiched around a brutal 68-94 2016 campaign.

Even before the start of the 2018 season, Tampa Bay was under an immense amount of pressure. The MLBPA filed a formal complaint against the team because of their cost-cutting roster decision. The club then shipped away even more veterans, with Chris Archer following catcher Wilson Ramos, starter Nathan Eovaldi, closer Alex Colome, and outfielder Denard Span out the door during the course of the season.

Yet the young squad performed admirably, improving from a .500 record at the start of August to finish the season on a 34-16 tear. Cash, aided by the data-driven front office, maximized the emerging player’s talent to great effect.

When the season closed, the Rays were left looking at an intriguing depth chart, largely blank future balance sheet, and lauded farm system, writes Jeff Todd (MLB Trade Rumors).

There also is a renewed hope of bolstered future revenues, as the organization is expected to officially announce its, as of now, generous new TV deal prior to the start of the 2019 season.

Cash enters this new phase of his term with a vote of confidence from the front office and more job security than, well … the former skipper, Joe Maddon.

I’m incredibly appreciative of the opportunity that was presented four years ago, and now, Cash said. I’m thankful for the support of Stu and the ownership group. From Matt and Brian to Erik and Chaim, all of our baseball ops people, our fans and the players.

I think this game has always been about the players and will always be about the players. But any positive impact myself, my staff, our front office can do to help lead them in the right direction is a huge benefit.

If Cash stays through 2024, he will become the longest-tenured manager in franchise history. He, too, would lead the Rays into a new stadium, be that in Ybor City or in Pinellas County.

Expectations have been raised, and it will be interesting to see what sort of additional tinkering is pursued over the 2018 offseason.

Rays offseason plans

The Rays enter the offseason with a committed payroll of around $32-million. Neither free-agents OF Carlos Gomez nor RHP Sergio Romo are expected to return. As Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) writes, upgrades seem likely for arbitration-eligible 1B/DH C.J. Cron (despite 30 homers) and C Jesus Sucre. A glut of lefty-hitting outfielders (and overall) creates the potential to trade Mallex Smith or, less likely, Kevin Kiermaier.

The expectations are up, Neander said. We go into next year off the season we had, we want to improve. And to improve on the number of wins we had this year should put us in the territory where we’re expecting playoffs.

How to go about doing that? How to achieve it? How to balance the depth that we have? We have a lot of puzzle pieces, now it’s a matter of which ones fit and which ones can be repurposed.

I don’t think we’re forecasting an active winter, so to speak. But there’s a lot that we need to think through to make sure we’re as competitive as we can be and as functional as we can be, and not just a young, talented team.

Trading for an impact player or two, or signing a few free agents — while different, given the team’s previous offseason moves — seem to be a given.

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The New What Next: Athletics vs Yankees — a Wildcard game preview

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The AL Wildcard game takes place Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium. (Photo Credit: Oakland Athletics)

The New York Yankees will host the Oakland Athletics in the AL Wildcard game Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium. Oakland will send right-hander Liam Hendriks to the mound as the opener, while New York will oppose with right-hander Luis Severino. Each team won three games in the 2018 season series.

(Stats Credit: ESPN)

The Athletics were 34-36 (.486) at the conclusion of play on June 15, and 11 games out in the Wildcard race. Yet from that point on they went 63-29 (.685) and ended up seven games ahead of the third place team in the Wildcard race (the Rays).

The keys to their success? The bullpen — like the Rays, Athletics manager Bob Melvin utilized the opener/long reliever model to great effect — and a high slugging powered offense. Oakland ranked second in the big leagues in doubles (322) and extra-base hits (569), third in home runs (227), fourth in runs (813) and slugging (.439), and fifth in OPS (.764).

True, the Yankees have scored more runs and hit more homers than the Athletics, yet they are a single faceted team in a sense because they depend heavily on the home run. Because of it, they can be pitched to and tend to strike out a lot. Expect Melvin to lean on groundball hurlers that can keep the ball in the park.

(Stats Credit: FanGraphs)

Oakland has averaged 5.02 runs per game this season, ranking fourth in all of baseball, while the pitching staff features a 3.81 team ERA, good for 11th in the Majors.

New York’s powerful lineup averaged 5.25 runs per game this season, ranking second in the big leagues. However, the Yankees have underperformed the Athletics in the second half of the season.

Pitching Probables

(Stats Credit: FanGraphs)

Liam Hendriks served as an opener in eight of his 25 regular-season appearances, logging a 2.08 ERA and 2.33 K/BB across 8-2/3 innings in those outings. Hendricks has worked to a 0.00 ERA/2.06 FIP/0.190 OBA/.250 BABIP/0.79 FIP over the last 14 days, with a 56.3 GB% and a 37.5% FB%. He has not given up a homer over that stretch (6-1/3 innings overall). Hendriks is 2-2 with a 6.32 ERA in career nine appearances (two starts) against the Yankees. Key Matchups: Greg Bird (1-2, 2B), Brett Gardner (1-2), Didi Gregorious (1-2), Andrew McCutchen (2-5, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI), Giancarlo Stanton (1-2)

Oakland will use its bullpen for the entire game. After Hendriks, the Athletics could turn to either Mike Fiers or Trevor Cahill in a long relief role. Fiers had been solid across 30 starts this season, performing to a 3.56 ERA, while Cahill registered a 3.76 ERA across 110 innings of work. The A’s bullpen ranked third in the big leagues with a terrific 3.37 ERA on the season.

Luis Severino had some rough patches this season yet still finished the season with a 3.39 ERA, backed up by excellent strikeout (28.2%) and walk (5.9%) rates. He finished the season strong, allowing just four runs in 17-2/3 innings over his final three starts. He’ll look to shake the memory of his performance in last season’s AL Wildcard game against Minnesota when he allowed three runs while getting just one single out. Severino is 1-1 with a 5.23 ERA in four career starts against the Athletics. Key Matchups: Matt Joyce (1-4, 2 BB), Ramon Laureano (1-2, 2B), Jed Lowrie (6-11, 3 RBI), Jonathan Lucroy (1-2), Chad Pinder (1-4, RBI), Stephen Piscotty (1-2, 2 RBI)

Noteworthiness

— Congratulations to Colorado for a big, extra-inning NL Wildcard win on Wednesday. The Rockies will move on to yet another area code (but same time zone) where they’ll face the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS.

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The Tampa Bay Rays are planning to purchase the Tampa Bay Rowdies

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The Tampa Bay Rowdies currently play on the site of the Rays’ failed 2008 stadium bid on St. Petersburg’s downtown waterfront. (Photo Credit: Philadelphia Union)

This morning Noah Pransky (WTSP 10 News) formally broke the news the Tampa Bay Rays are planning to purchase the Tampa Bay Rowdies for an undisclosed amount, as well as control of Al Lang Stadium on the St. Petersburg waterfront.

The Rowdies currently play on the site of the Rays’ failed 2008 stadium bid on St. Petersburg’s downtown waterfront.

According to Pransky, St. Pete City Councilman Charlie Gerdes confirmed meeting with Rays president Brian Auld Monday afternoon.

Team representatives indicated they share many of the same sponsors with the Rowdies and the decision to purchase just made sense. Gerdes said Auld told council members the plan to purchase the Rowdies was a business decision independent of the Rays search for a new stadium site.

It’s got nothing to do with what’s going on in Ybor City, it’s got nothing to do with spring training, Gerdes said Auld told him. It’s purely a business decision that makes a lot of sense when you look at the relationship the teams have …

They love downtown St. Pete and are a sports business and they think it’s a very smart business decision. He did say (it) … has nothing to do with short-term or immediate plans they have for baseball.

However, news of the pending deal has sparked speculation the Rays might be eyeing St. Petersburg once more as the clock ticks down toward the December 31 memorandum of understanding (MOU) deadline. Councilmember, Darden Rice, told the Tampa Bay Times she came to a similar conclusion after speaking to Edwards.

I would think Hillsborough voters might find it odd that the Rays have the money to buy a soccer team, but not come to the table with money for a stadium. To me, that says the deal in Hillsborough must be dead.

Pinellas County Commissioner Charlie Justice tweeted a comparable — albeit cheeky — comment this morning after news of the deal broke.

Yet Gerdes attempted to pour cold water on the speculation, saying,

I don’t believe that there’s any signal that a baseball team is going to go on the Al Lang site.

He opined a redeveloped Tropicana Field site is still “plan B,” not the Al Lang site.

The Rays have not formally ruled out building a new facility in St. Petersburg — the city has offered the Trop site and its lucrative redevelopment fees — if the Ybor deal falls through. As Pransky wrote in July, St. Petersburg and Pinellas County can likely offer the Rays significantly more construction money than Hillsborough County.

Bill Edwards, the current owner of the Rowdies, attempted to land an MLS franchise last year, a campaign in which he committed $80-million of his own money toward an expansion of Al Lang Stadium. In doing so, St. Pete voters overwhelmingly approved of a referendum for that expansion.

The question then begs, will Edwards — who will maintain promotional rights for concerts held at Al Lang — retain minority ownership status of the Rowdies? If so, and if a deal between cash-strapped Tampa and the Rays cannot come to fruition by the aforementioned cutoff date, might Edwards be compelled to chip in money for a multi-use facility for both teams— either at Al Lang or the Trop site?

Conjecture aside, St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman views the development as a positive one, lavishing both Edwards and the Rays with praise.

Mr. Edwards deserves much appreciation for remaking the Tampa Bay Rowdies and investing in Al Lang Stadium and our community, Kriseman said. Similarly, the Tampa Bay Rays’ leadership has remade their baseball organization and placed considerable emphasis on community engagement. I am confident that this is a positive development for all parties, the great fans of both teams, and the City of St. Petersburg.

Neither Rays nor Rowdies officials said much about the deal and scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Tuesday at Mahaffey Theater.

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LBWMF: Rays reach 90 win plateau with 9-4 win over Toronto

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For the second consecutive season, Sergio Romo (AKA Cash $) was the ball boy in the season finale at the Trop. (Photo Credit: X-Rays Spex)

For the first time since 2013, the Tampa Bay Rays finished the regular season with a 90-72 record. Tampa Bay pulled in front of the Toronto Blue Jays for good in a three-run fifth inning Sunday afternoon, then won 9-4.

Toronto scored the first run of the game in the third against Ryan Yarbrough. Kevin Pillar came up with a two-out single, then moved into second on a passed ball. Randall Grichuk followed with a double to left, putting Toronto up by a run. Yet Tampa Bay answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning against Sam Gaviglio.

Jake Bauers led off the inning with a single to right, stole his way into second, and went to third on a wild pitch. With two outs and a runner at third, Tommy Pham walked and stole the teams third base of the game. But the responding throw by Reese McGwire ended up in centerfield, which allowed Bauers to cross the plate and Pham to move into third. Joey Wendle capped the rally with a base hit through the left side, putting Tampa Bay in front for the first time.

But, Toronto tied the game in the fifth inning against Yarbrough. With two outs, the southpaw allowed a bloop single to center to Richard Urena before Pillar doubled over the head of Austin Meadows in right, plating a run. After a six-pitch walk to Randal Grichuk, Yarbrough coaxed a fly ball out in foul territory to prevent any further damage, keeping the game even.

Tied at two entering the home sixth, Bauers collected his second hit of the day — bunting against the shift for a hit to start a go-ahead rally. Nick Ciuffo followed with a sacrifice bunt, moving Bauers up to second. One pitch later Smith singled to right-center, scoring Bauers and putting the Rays ahead by a run.

Not content with just 39 steals on the season, Smith swiped second — his second of the game and 40th of the season. Smith’s 40 steals are the most for a Ray since Carl Crawford’s 47 and B.J. Upton’s 42 in 2010.

Pham — who had reached base in 33 consecutive games with his third-inning walk — tripled to left-center, stretching the lead to two runs before Wendle hit a sac fly to center, capping the three-run rally.

Still, the Blue Jays answered in the seventh inning against reliever Hunter Wood, the third Rays pitcher of the day. Wood walked Teoscar Hernandez, who went to third on a single to right by Rowdy Tellez. Hernandez ultimately came home on an RBI groundout by Aledmys Diaz to make it a two-run game.

However, the Rays tacked on three runs in the seventh on Brandon Lowe’s sac fly and Bauers’ two-run double, which put the Rays up by five. Both teams added a run on double-play groundouts the following inning.

All told, Tampa Bay collected 10 hits with three each from Bauers and Pham. Meanwhile, Austin Pruitt fired off 3-1/3 innings of one-run ball.

Wendle, who became the first Tampa Bay rookie hitter to hit .300 in a given season (and the first .300 hitter for Tampa Bay since Casey Kotchman in 2011), was lifted in the eighth inning to a standing ovation. He later came out for a curtain call.

At the end of the day, Tampa Bay’s 90 wins feels important. True, there really is not much of a difference between 90 wins and 89 wins, especially without the benefit of a postseason berth. Yet after a 1-8 and 4-13 start to the season, 90 wins feels like a revelation. Pair that with the fact that the Rays were in the running for a Wildcard spot with six games left to play, in the last week of the season. Fans and players alike caught a whiff of something they hadn’t in five long years. That whiff makes the team a much more formidable presence going into the 2019 season.

Rays skipper Kevin Cash likened it to laying the groundwork in his postgame presser, saying:

We should be very proud of the way we played this year. The things we accomplished. The groundwork we laid. But we’re not satisfied. … We need to go into this offseason, enjoy ourselves, take a month, then get back after it.

Jake Bauers responded in kind:

I’m excited to be a part of this whole organization. This is a great group of coaches. We have a great manager and a great group of 40 guys. Any time you’re generally excited to go to work and you’re excited about being able to hang out with your boys, your buddies, just go have fun and have baseball be enjoyable with guys you actually like, it’s a huge thing. We’re looking forward to next year.

So are we, Jake.

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